- Amazon to close Mechanical Turk amid rise of AI
Source: Seattle Times
“Amazon announced it will shutter its 21-year-old crowdsourced labor market platform, Mechanical Turk, by the end of September. Some say the rising usage of artificial intelligence delivered the fatal blow. The company launched Mechanical Turk, which users commonly call MTurk, in 2005 to pay gig workers to complete simple digital tasks that were easy for humans but challenging for computers. People looking for side jobs could transcribe audio, categorize data or label images for a few cents per task. Amazon co-founder Jeff Bezos described the platform as ‘artificial artificial intelligence.’ But AI has become more capable of such mundane tasks in recent years. A 2023 study by researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne found that between 33% and 46% of workers on Amazon Mechanical Turk used large language models like ChatGPT to complete some of those tasks.” (08/27/26)
- US FDA approves daily HIV pill from Gilead designed to simplify treatment for some patients
Source: CNBC
“The Food and Drug Administration approved a once-daily HIV pill from Gilead that could help simplify care for some patients, the company announced Thursday. The drug, marketed as Bixlenvo, is aimed at patients whose virus is already under control but who remain on complicated treatment regimens. It could also appeal to those who simply want to switch to a new treatment alternative.”(08/27/26)
- Ratko Mladic, Murderous “Butcher of Bosnia,” Dies at 83
Source: New York Times
“Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb general whose actions during the Balkan wars of the 1990s led to him being called the ‘Butcher of Bosnia’ and who was held responsible for Europe’s deadliest massacre since World War II, the killing of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica in 1995, has died. He was 83. His death was announced on Thursday by Serbian state media. Mr. Mladic was captured on May 26, 2011, in a farming village north of Belgrade, Serbia’s capital, after almost 16 years as a fugitive, ending one of the longest manhunts in modern history. His 2017 conviction by an international tribunal on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes marked the end of a dark and bloody chapter.” (08/27/26)
- TX: Wanted gangland fugitive released from jail instead of extradited
Source: KSTP 5 News
“An ICE [gang member] charged in connection with a shooting that wounded a Venezuelan man in Minneapolis has been released from a jail in Texas. A Texas federal judge denied Minnesota’s request on Wednesday to compel the extradition of Christian Castro. Thursday’s release from the jail in Brownsville, Texas, came as the 90-day clock on Castro’s detention expired …. Castro is accused of shooting at Julio Sosa-Celis through the door of a north Minneapolis home on Jan. 14 in the course of his duties as a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement [gang member] during Operation Metro Surge. He had initially told FBI investigators that Sosa-Celis and others had attacked him, using a snow shovel and a broom handle as weapons. Video evidence of the shooting contradicted his sworn statement, and Castro was placed on leave as the U.S. Department of Justice investigated whether he lied under oath.” (08/27/26)
- Canada: Saskatchewan premier announces 50% tariff on American liquor
Source: Ground News
“Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe announced Tuesday that the province will impose a 50 per cent reciprocal fee on American alcohol products starting Sept. 8, responding to escalating trade tensions. The decision follows the United States recently implementing a 50 per cent tariff on a range of Canadian alcohol products, forcing provinces to pursue retaliatory measures protecting local industries. Federal authorities also introduced retaliatory levies on $27.6 billion worth of imports from the U.S., aiming to support the national economy amid the ongoing trade dispute. Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew praised Canada’s counter-tariffs on Tuesday, stating, ‘I’m proud of our country right now,’ while urging citizens to support local businesses through the ‘Buy Canadian’ initiative.” (08/27/26)
https://ground.news/article/saskatchewan-premier-announces-50-tariff-on-american-liquor
- Tanzania: Resigning Vice President Expelled From Governing Party
Source: US News & World Report
“Tanzania’s governing party expelled the vice president who resigned this week, in an act of retaliation that will further test the credentials of the East African nation as a place of relative peace and stability. A meeting of the Chama cha Mapinduzi, or CCM, party decided to punish Emmanuel Nchimbi for indiscipline, and it nominated Energy Minister Deogratius Ndejembi to become President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s deputy, CCM Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro told reporters late Wednesday. The maneuver is believed to be part of the ongoing fallout from Hassan’s contentious election in October, when the security forces were deployed to put down riots over the disqualification of the president’s main rivals. The internet was shut down for days, a move that Hassan later apologized for and promised would never happen again. Hassan’s main rival, Tundu Lissu, is jailed over treason charges he says are politically motivated.” (08/27/26)
- Meta’s $18bn settlement may hasten reckoning for social media on child safety
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Meta’s decision to agree to an $18bn (£13.3bn) settlement on Wednesday, to resolve claims that Facebook and Instagram harmed children, came as a surprise. I was expecting weeks of courtroom drama as 29 states – almost two-thirds of America – took on one US tech giant. Technically, the trial was about children’s online privacy. It was based on a US law called the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which is nearly 30 years old and predates all of today’s biggest social platforms. It centred around Meta’s historic gathering and use of data belonging to children under the age of 13 over a period of several years. In reality, it was a co-ordinated attack on the firm’s online safety credentials. Meta, alongside other social media apps, is under fire around the world as 2026 is shaping up to be a year of reckoning for the entire industry – perhaps our days of doomscrolling are numbered.” (08/27/26)
- Taiwan: Man wins lawsuit but gets jailed for using robot vacuum to record wife’s affair
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“A man in Taiwan who used a robot vacuum cleaner to gather evidence of his wife’s affair won a civil lawsuit but was subsequently sentenced to prison for invading her privacy. … he remotely activated the home’s robot vacuum cleaner via its mobile application, planning to use its built-in audio feature to communicate with his wife. However, the live feed captured his wife in an intimate encounter with another man. Seeking evidence for a legal claim, he began recording the footage. … the husband used the footage as evidence to sue his wife and her lover for infringing on his marital rights, seeking NT$2 million (US$68,000) in damages. The court determined that their relationship had surpassed the limits of ordinary friendship and ordered the pair to pay the husband NT$500,000 in compensation. However, this civil victory did not protect the husband from legal repercussions regarding how the evidence was obtained.” (08/27/26)
- ME: GOP Nominee for Governor Calls for Gang Presence at Polling Stations
Source: Common Dreams
“[T]he state’s Republican nominee for governor detailed a proposal that, according to one public policy think tank, is wholly illegal. In an audio clip released Wednesday by the Bangor Daily News, Bobby Charles, a lawyer and former Reagan administration staffer, boasted about his connections to the Trump administration’s border czar, Tom Homan, a key figure in President Donald Trump’s mass deportation operation. ‘Here’s my secret. I have a friend named Tom Homan,’ said Charles, drawing applause from the GOP voters. ‘I’m going to ask Tom … three or four weeks before the election, maybe three, I’m going to make an appeal for ICE and Marshals to be at our voting booths.’ Charles was referring to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the US Marshals, both armed federal law enforcement officers whose presence at polling sites to intimidate voters would be against the law, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.” (08/27/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/news/bobby-charles-maine-governor-race
- US Army plans nuclear microreactors at five military bases as part of $2.2 billion energy security push
Source: Fox Business
“The U.S. Army is moving forward with plans to bring nuclear power to five military installations as part of a multibillion-dollar effort to strengthen the military’s energy security and reduce its reliance on potentially vulnerable power grids. The Army announced Wednesday that its Janus Program selected five nuclear energy companies for awards of up to a combined $2.2 billion to own, build and operate nuclear microreactors at bases in North Carolina, Kentucky, Texas, Georgia and New York. … Combined with expected private-sector investment, the Army said it expects more than 20 nuclear microreactors to eventually be built and operated across Department of War installations.” (08/27/26)
- Florida becomes first state to block welfare cash for tattoos, vapes and more
Source: Fox News
“Florida is becoming the first state to impose sweeping new limits on how welfare cash can be spent, blocking recipients from using cash-assistance benefits loaded onto EBT cards for purchases like tattoos, theme park tickets, video games, vaping products and other items not generally considered ‘basic needs’ under a plan the Trump administration is urging other states to emulate. Florida’s cash-assistance program, known as Temporary Cash Assistance (TCA), is funded through the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. It is separate from SNAP, the food-assistance program, though families may receive both types of benefits through separate balances on the same EBT card. The Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families (ACF) determined Florida’s updated TANF plan to be complete Thursday in a letter sent to Gov. Ron DeSantis and obtained by Fox News Digital.” (08/27/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/florida-becomes-first-state-block-welfare-cash-tattoos-vapes-more
- Senile Reality TV Star Orders US Regime to Refer to Lake Ontario as “Lake America”
Source: Associated Press
“President Donald Trump said Thursday he is renaming Lake Ontario to be known as ‘Lake America’ in the United States as he escalates his trade war with Canada. The Republican president signed an executive order directing the Interior Department to update the lake’s name in the U.S. geographic naming service. Trump cannot force Canada to follow his preferred naming convention, however.” (08/27/26)_
- More than 1,300 are missing in Nepal and Tibet after catastrophic floods caused by glacier collapse
Source: ABC News
“Rescue teams searched on Thursday for hundreds of missing people along the Nepal-China border after a catastrophic and deadly torrent of floods and mud swept through several communities a day earlier following a glacier collapse. The disaster left at least 168 people dead and more than 1,300 missing, including foreigners and pilgrims, and displaced hundreds of people across the Himalayan region. Videos of the tragedy showed the flood swallowing up people as they tried to escape, and destroying buildings and bridges. On Thursday, drone footage from Nepal showed the scale of the destruction.” (08/27/26)
- GA: Date set for state employees to kill man convicted of killing two real estate agents
Source: SFGate
“Georgia prison officials plan to [kill] a man next month who was convicted of fatally shooting two real estate agents in Atlanta’s suburbs more than two decades ago. Stacey Humphreys, 53, was convicted of malice murder in the 2003 killings of 33-year-old Cyndi Williams and 21-year-old Lori Brown. He is set to receive a lethal injection at the state prison near Jackson at 7 p.m. on Sept. 16, according to the Department of Corrections. Humphreys would be the first person [killed by state employees in this particular way] in Georgia this year. The death penalty in the state has largely been tied up in litigation over an agreement related to the coronavirus pandemic that defense lawyers contend temporarily shields many death row residents from execution. The last [killing of this type by state employees] in the state was in March 2024.” (08/27/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/execution-date-set-for-man-convicted-of-killing-2-22406145.php
- Appeals court allows charges to proceed against politician who tried to protect another politician from violent gang members
Source: United Press International
“A divided federal appeals court has ruled that Rep. LaMonica McIver is not immune from prosecution on charges stemming from a confrontation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents outside a federal [concentration camp] in 2025. The New Jersey Democrat was charged with three federal counts of impeding and interfering with federal immigration officers over alleged conduct on May 9, 2025, as they were attempting to [abduct] Newark Mayor Ras Baraka during an unannounced congressional oversight inspection of Delaney Hall Federal Immigration Facility. … McIver allegedly placed herself in front of Baraka and wrapped her arms around him to prevent his [abduction].” (08/27/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/08/27/LaMonica-McIver-charges-proceed/6031787805552/
- Jellyfish force partial shutdown of French nuclear plant
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“A massive influx of jellyfish has led to the partial shutdown of a nuclear reactor in northern France. Two of Gravelines nuclear power station’s six units were shut down on Wednesday and Thursday because of the presence of jellyfish in the seawater filtration system, which is used for cooling, Électricité de France (EDF) said. A third unit has been shut down since 10 August due to the same issue, while a fourth has been closed for an inspection. Gravelines, one of the country’s biggest nuclear power stations located between Dunkirk and Calais in the Hauts-de-France region, was also closed last August because of jellyfish in its filters.” (08/27/26)
- Malaysia: Former PM Ismail Sabri charged with concealing assets
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Former Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob has been charged with failing to declare tens of millions of dollars worth of assets, becoming the country’s third former prime minister to face criminal charges after leaving office. The 66-year-old pleaded not guilty at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court on Thursday to a charge that alleges he failed to provide a complete declaration of assets to Malaysia’s anti-corruption agency. He is accused of concealing holdings worth about $40m, spread across nine currencies, as well as bars of gold and silver. His lawyer, Amer Hamzah Arshad, said at a media conference that the charge was essentially a failure to comply with a notice to declare certain assets.” (08/27/26)
- FL: Shackled Tate brothers in court ask to be released from jail during extradition fight
Source: SFGate
“Defense lawyers for social media influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate argued Thursday if Romania is OK with them being out of jail as they challenge sex charges, then the U.S. should free them too as they fight extradition to the United Kingdom. The brothers have remained in a federal detention center in Miami since they were arrested July 18 on rape and sex trafficking charges from the U.K. Their attorneys have argued that their high profile and active social media presence make it nearly impossible for them to flee. The Tates have become among the world’s most polarizing internet personalities by promoting wealth, male dominance and misogyny through their social media empire.” (08/27/26)
- Military trial date set for alleged mastermind of 9/11 attacks
Source: NBC News
“A military judge ruled Wednesday that the man accused of being the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks will stand trial starting in June 2028. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will be prosecuted alongside others suspected of conspiring in the attacks: Walid bin Attash, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi. Mohammed is accused of orchestrating the plot to crash hijacked planes into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. A fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania during the attacks. He has been held at the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, since 2006.” [editor’s note: He was entitled to a speedy, REAL, legal trial 20 years ago; the US regime has spent 20 years fighting to just hold a fake, illegal “trial” instead. The delay kind of eliminated the publicity value of the show – TLK] (08/26/26)
- EU regimes revive plan to use frozen Russian assets for Ukraine
Source: Financial Times [UK]
“EU countries including Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain and Poland are urging Brussels to renew efforts to leverage immobilised Russian sovereign assets to fund Ukraine, in response to fears that Kyiv faces a renewed funding crisis. Plans to fund Ukraine using more than €200bn in Russian central bank assets held in the EU under sanctions collapsed last winter as Belgium, where the majority are held, blocked the initiative. But a letter from a coalition of states to the European Commission will call on the EU’s executive to restart work on the concept, according to four people briefed on the document, and seek clarity on any progress in alternative legal and technical frameworks that could provide a solution to Belgium’s veto.” (08/27/26)
- Bill Gates Wants to Tax AI and Reserve Jobs for Humans. History Says That’s a Mistake
Source: Karl Dickey’s Freedom Vanguard
by Karl Dickey“In his 6,000-word essay, Gates proposes three direct state interventions. First, he proposes a payroll-style tax on artificial intelligence and robots to penalize companies that automate labor. Second, he proposes legal mandates that reserve specific job categories for humans only. Third, he advocates for global government coordination to slow down artificial intelligence development. As we see so often, government interventions cause more problems than they propose to solve, often having the opposite effect of their stated goals — so government intervention is a terrible idea to solve problems that have not yet happened. After all, adding a tax on automation will negate the increased profits the automation will bring. His ‘solutions’ will bring higher consumer prices; they would protect inefficient monopolies while reducing productivity. Negating the whole point of AI.” (08/27/26)
https://palmbeachexaminer.substack.com/p/bill-gates-wants-to-tax-ai-and-reserve
- Off-Grid Is Good For Everyone, Not Just the Military
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp“The US Army, Fox Business reports, plans to build nuclear ‘microreactors’ at five of its bases — Fort Bragg, Fort Campbell, Fort Hood, Fort Benning, and Fort Drum — over the next two years, with at least 15 more to follow later. Why? To, the report says, ‘strengthen the military’s energy security and reduce its reliance on potentially vulnerable power grids.’ The idea certainly makes sense for a military base, but it makes sense for everyone, everywhere else, too. The biggest security and reliability worry with electricity isn’t that an enemy missile or bomb will take out a power plant. It’s that an attack or accident somewhere along the 650,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines and 6.3 million miles of distribution lines criss-crossing the US will stop that power from getting delivered.” (08/27/26)
- Economists can’t explain American misery. Luckily, I can.
Source: Sex and the State
by Cathy Reisenwitz“In Asia Times, Noah Smith just wrote that standard economic measures can’t really explain why Americans are growing less happy with their lives over time. The problem is that what makes for a happy, meaningful life is much harder to measure than GDP or median income. I agree that standard economic measures alone won’t do the trick. But it’s not because it’s so hard to measure what predicts a happy, meaningful life. That’s actually pretty easy. Connecting economic realities to those measures is also fairly straightforward. What Smith is missing is that relationships predict happiness. And, increasingly, economic conditions predict relationships.” (08/27/26)
https://cathyreisenwitz.substack.com/p/bottom-half-families-explain-americas
- Wealth Taxes, Competition, and Long-Term Prosperity
Source: Cato Institute
by Marian L Tupy“Cooperation helps us survive, while innovation helps us prosper. How ‘interjurisdictional competition’ can foster the latter.” (08/27/26)
https://www.cato.org/commentary/wealth-taxes-competition-long-term-prosperity
- Ukraine’s edge in war: Esprit de (military) corps
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff“News about the wars in Iran and Gaza has lately eclipsed that of a more consequential war: the one in Ukraine, now in its fifth year. Yet that conflict could soon take a turn against the aggressor, Russia – less on the battlefront and more on the homefront. By various reports, young Russians are showing more bravery through subtle opposition to the war, while young men have become less brave about joining the military – actively avoiding coercive new ways of recruiting them to replace the vast number of soldiers lost on the front lines. The contrast with Ukraine could not be more stark.” (08/26/26)
- Recycling’s great but you do have to have something to recycle
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Tim Worstall“You have to have something to recycle. Which, if you’re building Civilisation 1.0, you don’t. It’s only when you’re building Civ 2.0, or 3.0, when you tear down the previous one and now have a pile of something that can be recycled to build the next version. The currently rich nations – US, UK, say – require very little virgin steel and actually export considerable amounts of scrap steel from those previous versions now being torn down. We’ve not checked the numbers but would certainly be willing to believe that demand for primary copper in both places is pretty minimal given the abundance of secondary. It’s places building out an urban environment for the first time – recently China, likely soon India, say – that require vast amounts of the new stuff.” (08/27/26)
https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/recyclings-great-but-you-do-have-to-have-something-to-recycle
- Sino-American Relations: From Fragile Thaw to Renewed Friction
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Joseph Solis-Mullen“While the tenor of U.S.-China relations cooled somewhat from the hysteria of Donald Trump’s first term and the Joe Biden years, recent events have made clear how thin that veneer of stability remains. President Trump’s May 2026 state visit to Beijing and the planned September 24 White House meeting with Xi Jinping briefly suggested a shift toward ‘strategic stability.’ Reciprocal visits returned to the agenda, and open talk of full decoupling subsided. That moment already looks precarious.” (08/27/26)
- Thank you, Brendan Carr
Source: Checks & Balances
by Bob Corn-Revere“It is widely said that you are nothing but a political hack who sold out your previously professed beliefs about free expression and the rule of law for the short-term goal of being named FCC chairman, that you corrupted the agency’s nonpartisan purpose by focusing its efforts on punishing perceived critics of the Trump administration, and that you regularly prostrate yourself with cringe-worthy displays of servility to soothe the president’s fragile ego. All these things may be true. But the criticism is terribly unfair because it fails to acknowledge your substantive accomplishments. When the dust settles, it may turn out that you have done more than any FCC chairman since the agency’s creation in 1934 to advance full First Amendment protection for the broadcast medium.” (08/27/26)
- Monopoly Money: Why Meta “Likes” the $16 Billion Settlement
Source: Jonathan Turley
by Jonathan Turley“It is not every day that a company can settle a case for over $16 billion and celebrate. However, Meta’s settlement with 29 states is a remarkably good deal for a company facing a demand of over $1.4 trillion and years of litigation. In the end, it may not even take a loss from the litigation. The settlement ends the latest mass liability case, following similar settlements in tobacco, opiates, and other products. It will require Meta to make changes to its platform, though the company already appeared to be moving to make such changes. The maximum payment of closer to $17 billion is tied to whether competing platforms (like TikTok and YouTube) adopt parallel protections for children. Otherwise, the company is on the hook for at least $12.1 billion over 10 years under the agreement.” (08/27/26)
https://jonathanturley.org/2026/08/27/monopoly-money-why-meta-likes-the-16-billion-settlement/
- With Energy Prices Falling, Inflation Has Nowhere to Hide
Source: The Daily Economy
by Bryan Cutsinger“Spending growth is still outstripping productive capacity, and the Fed can no longer blame high prices on volatile energy markets.” (08/27/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/with-energy-prices-falling-inflation-has-nowhere-to-hide/
- Biden Derangement Syndrome
Source: Paul Krugman
by Paul Krugman“A clear indicator that Trump sycophants realize that they are caught in reality’s snare is how they respond to any question about current economic difficulties. Their first sentence almost always contains the word ‘Biden’, as they make the false claim that things were worse under Joe Biden, or that Biden somehow caused all of our current problems (including high gas prices and depleted munitions), or that Biden left an economy in shambles. Call it a bad case of Biden derangement syndrome, a desperate and utterly transparent attempt to shift the blame for the gratuitous mess that Trump and his minions have made.” (08/27/26)
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/biden-derangement-syndrome
- Game Theory and the Push to Go Along
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Richard Burt“World War II ended when America dropped the atomic bombs named ‘Little Boy’ and ‘Fat Man’ on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Hundreds of thousands of Japanese died in an instant and of radiation poisoning over the subsequent years. Several American politicians, military brass, and university academics advocated for preemptive war against Russia to prevent it from acquiring nuclear bombs. Francis Matthews, Secretary of the Navy, advocated becoming ‘aggressors for peace.’ The mathematician John von Neuman, who was a pioneer in game theory, remarked: ‘If you say bomb them tomorrow, I say why not bomb them today?'” (08/27/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/game-theory-and-the-push-to-go-along/
- Lebanon Pressured to Disarm Hezbollah While Israel Stays; How Is That Sovereignty?
Source: Common Dreams
by Faheem Kazimi“This week, the argument over Lebanese sovereignty became concrete on a ridge overlooking Nabatieh. The New Arab reported on August 24 that Washington is pressing for the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge, where Hezbollah fighters are present, to be transferred to the Lebanese Army in exchange for Israeli withdrawal. The same area has been subjected to repeated Israeli shelling. In one small patch of southern Lebanon, the larger problem is suddenly hard to hide: Beirut is being asked to move first, while the withdrawal of foreign forces from Lebanese territory remains the inducement offered in return. That pressure did not begin this week. Reuters reported in July 2025 that Washington was pressing Lebanon to make a formal cabinet commitment to disarm Hezbollah before talks could continue on halting Israeli military operations.” (08/27/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/israel-lebanon-sovereignty
- What would Dolly do? Trump should learn from her life and legacy
Source: Los Angeles Times
by Jackie Calmes“Both Dolly and Donald are American originals. But to say ‘there will never be another Dolly’ is to do so with regret. To say the same about Trump is, for many Americans, to do so with hope for the country and Constitution. She was a fairy tale version of the American dream, born in a one-room mountain cabin, ever humble and true to her roots yet serenaded after her death by royal troops playing ‘9 to 5’ outside Buckingham Palace. He was born entitled and rich, yet embodies that old American saying ‘born on third base and thinks he hit a home run.’ Safe to say Trump won’t be honored abroad with serenades on his passing, given how fully he has alienated allies. Dolly’s philanthropy was real and global; the Trump Foundation was fraudulent and forced to shut down. She was no dumb blond; about him you’ll get an argument.” (08/27/26)
- He Spent Nearly Six Years in Prison Based on the Word of a Notoriously Dishonest Houston Drug Cop
Source: Reason
by Jacob Sullum“When a crime consists of nothing but handing a police officer or an informant something in exchange for money, the evidence often consists of nothing but that purported buyer’s word, along with drugs that easily could have been obtained through other means. This situation invites dishonest cops to invent drug offenses and take credit for the resulting arrests, as [Gerald] Goines did for years with impunity. When your job is to create crimes by arranging illegal drug sales, it is not such a big leap to create crimes out of whole cloth, especially if you are convinced that your target is a drug dealer.” (08/27/26)
- How a Self-help Book Resolved a Philosophical Conundrum, part 2
Source: The Jolly Libertarian
by Marco den Ouden“Much of the self-help movement is focused on improving self-image. Ayn Rand’s former acolyte Nathaniel Branden developed his whole philosophy of psychology around the idea of self-esteem. And for many years he gave a three day intensive workshop, a group therapy event called Self-Esteem and the Art of Being. I took these Intensives twice, gaining additional insights into my own psyche both times. But Ayn Rand is naive to believe that simply studying and adopting a new philosophy will change the subconscious.” (08/27/26)
https://jollylibertarian.blogspot.com/2026/08/how-self-help-book-resolved_0973168350.html
- A Hostile Takeover?
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Mark Nayler“Following Britain’s vote to leave the EU, both easyJet and Ryanair were told by Brussels that they needed to relocate their headquarters and/or sell the majority of their shares to EU citizens in order to keep operating across the continent. easyJet solved the problem by opening a European office in Vienna, although its overall base of operations has remained in Luton, 30 miles north of London. New York-based Apollo has revealed few details about how it proposes to adhere to Europe’s airline ownership regulations, under which its stake is capped at 49.9%. Some aviation experts have noted that Apollo could satisfy Brussels by leaving majority voting rights with EU stakeholders, but still restructure or break up the airline to gain overall economic control.” (08/27/26)
- The Eclectic Genius of Willmoore Kendall
Source: Law & Liberty
by Matthew T Cantirino“The first—and typically journalistic—answer defaults to his biography. Intellectually, in terms of his influences, Kendall was not simply the disciple of one single thinker or the product of any one single school of thought. He counted among his influences Aristotle, Rousseau, and the Mayflower Compact. He became, in middle age, a devoted student of both Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin, both of whom reached the apogees of their own careers during his life. Kendall showed an admirable openness—exceedingly rare in tenured academics—to re-evaluate the fundamentals of his own intellectual outlook. Yet that—and his admittedly captivating personal story—sometimes gets him written off as brilliant but unsettled …” (08/27/26)
https://lawliberty.org/the-eclectic-genius-of-willmoore-kendall/
- Sociopath Awareness, Part 1
Source: The Findings Substack
by Paul Rosenberg“Some years ago I gave a good deal of thought to opening a Sociopath Awareness Foundation. I was convinced that if most people understood sociopathy, it would be an overwhelming benefit to the human race. I am convinced of that still, and so I want to familiarize as many people as possible with these facts, again because I believe in their great importance. I’m no longer interested in creating a foundation, but I’ll cheer for anyone who does so reasonably well.” (08/27/26)
https://thefindings.substack.com/p/sociopath-awareness-part-1
- US Aided Brazilian Tyranny?
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob“In a case with ‘serious repercussions,’ insists journalist Brazilian-based American journalist Glenn Greenwald, a ‘U.S. federal judge concluded that an immigration record entered in the Customs and Border Protection system during the Biden administration was fraudulent.’ While the idea of fraudulent behavior in a government bureau will hardly shock you, this record was special. It was used to imprison a Brazilian official. The official? Filipe Martins. He filed suit in the U.S., and as a result a truth came out.” (08/27/26)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/08/27/u-s-aided-brazilian-tyranny/
- The FDA Needs Better Leadership, Not Patronage
Source: Town Hall
by Derek Hunter“It’s probably not very often, if ever, that a Republican nomination to head a federal agency is compared to a Democratic mayor’s race in Baltimore, but that’s where I’m going here. It’s not crazy; I swear it makes sense. Just stick with me, and you’ll see. When I lived in Baltimore in 2016, then-Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake decided not to run for reelection. She was an accidental mayor, the city council president who ascended to the top job when a criminal scandal forced the mayor to resign. Rawlings-Blake served the second half of Sheila Dixon’s term, then won her own in 2011. She was never really good or comfortable in the job she found herself in, so she announced she wouldn’t seek reelection. This led to a feeding frenzy of Baltimore politicians scrambling for the gig.” (08/27/26)
- Flailing GOP needs a boogeyman for midterms. Enter Islamophobia.
Source: USA Today
by Chris Brennan“November’s midterm elections, which will determine which political party controls Congress, are less than 10 weeks away. And Republicans, already likely to lose control of the U.S. House, are now in danger of losing the U.S. Senate too. Time for a Republican boogeyman to frighten voters – a revival of Islamophobic rhetoric. A standing election time tradition in the Republican Party is to pick some group – Chinese Americans during COVID-19, LGBTQ+ Americans in 2024 – to present as an un-American threat to the rest of us. But this Republican Party has run short of ideas on everything from how to fix our economy to which scary people we should be scared of. So we’re getting a retread.” (08/27/26)
- The Destabilizing Stabilizers: Why Increasing Government Spending Prolongs a Recession
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by William L Anderson“Keynesians hold that the economy is directed by ‘aggregate demand,’ that is overall spending, and that if consumers slow their spending, then the central bank can respond by lowering interest rates, which would encourage businesses to borrow money for expansion purposes, thus redirecting some of the lost consumer spending. However, according to Keynesians, if interest rates already are near-zero, then lowering rates is self-defeating and can lead to a ‘Liquidity Trap.’ … Mainstream economists speak of so-called automatic stabilizers in which government policies act in a counter-cyclical way to reverse harmful economic trends.” (08/27/26)
- Data centers and toxic waste could be a match made in heaven
Source: Washington Post
by Chris Barnard“Data centers have become an integral part of American life, powering search engines, GPS navigation, health care systems and more. But as companies invest in the infrastructure needed for AI, vicious land-use fights are emerging in communities nationwide. Nearly 3 in 4 Americans oppose hosting a data center in their community. Localized opposition has mobilized to halt projects in data center hot spots. It need not be this way. What if companies could build data centers on contaminated brownfield and Superfund sites in exchange for cleaning up the land?” (08/27/26)
- The Fourth Amendment and ICE
Source: CounterPunch
by Matt Witt“Last year, Carrboro, N.C. became the first town in America to officially declare itself a ‘Fourth Amendment City.’ At the same time, many small businesses in Carrboro have pledged to be ‘Fourth Amendment Businesses’ and to take specific steps to protect employees and customers from federal persecution by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE). Under the Fourth Amendment, ICE agents cannot constitutionally enter a private area that is not open to the public unless they have a judicial warrant signed by a judge that says ‘U.S. District Court’ or a state court at the top. Despite claims by the Trump administration to the contrary, an administrative warrant from the Department of Homeland Security does not satisfy this constitutional requirement.” (08/27/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/08/27/the-fourth-amendment-and-ice/
- Extremely Online: A Definition
Source: Liberal Currents
by Katherine Alejandra Ross“Becoming Extremely Online is a choice: one that fewer of us should make.” (08/27/26)
- The ROAD to Housing Act: Hurting Renters and Investors
Sourc: Independent Institute
by Nikolai G Wenzel“A bipartisan misstep in the name of affordability.” (08/27/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/08/27/road-housing-act-hurting-renters-investors/
- The rise and fall of “resistance” hero Alexander Vindman
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Blaise Malley“On paper, Alexander Vindman’s loss in last week’s Florida Democratic Senate was a shocking upset. After all, Vindman had a 16-to-1 fundraising advantage and far more national name recognition than the winner — progressive state Rep. Angie Nixon. But the results reflect more than one poorly-run campaign. Vindman is one of the most prominent faces of a bygone political era known as ‘Russia-gate’ — a period which Democratic voters appear ready to leave behind. … the very reason Vindman succeeded in those heady days is likely — at least partly — to blame for why he and others lost their primaries. Their democracies vs. autocracies (read: Russia) foreign policy is not salient with the voters anymore. Another country is, however.” (08/27/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/alex-vindman-resistance-foreign-policy/
- Health Care Reform Needs More Than Universal Coverage
Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen“The Trump administration is desperate for good news on inflation, so when they saw that prescription drug prices had dropped by the largest amount in 60 years, they grabbed onto that for dear life. ‘No previous Administration achieved this,’ the White House boasted in a press release, congratulating themselves for ‘delivering real relief to American families and putting patients first.’ It seems reasonably clear that the administration that delivered this was, in fact, the ‘previous Administration’, namely, Joe Biden’s. The lion’s share of the drop is attributable to drug price negotiations in Medicare, which just kicked in this year for ten high-priced medications. Some of the negotiated prices are 79 percent below the previous level. That Democrats put together a health care intervention designed not to lower prices until the next president’s term is severe political malpractice, but it happens to be the truth.” (08/27/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/08/27/health-care-reform-universal-coverage-medicare-for-all/
- The “Stability-Instability Paradox” Comes for Markets
Source: Foreign Policy
by Emma Ashford & Matthew Rojansky“The impasse in U.S. President Donald Trump’s war against Iran has now lasted for so long that even jokes about Groundhog Day have grown stale. Recent months have seen rounds of punishing airstrikes, followed by announcements that peace talks are resuming. None of this has moved the needle. Now the administration has returned to another dated strategy: maximum economic pressure, or as U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has put it, an ‘economic D-Day’ against which Iran cannot hope to stand. The administration seems to believe time is on its side, and that the ongoing blockade and sanctions on Iran’s trading partners will succeed where bombing has not. But this is a dangerous game.” (08/27/26)
- Postliberalism Gets the “Common Good” Wrong
Source: The Daily Economy
by Logan Tantibanchachai“Individual liberty is an essential feature of the constitutional order, not a competing good. To claim otherwise, critics must reject or rewrite our Founding.” (08/27/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/postliberalism-gets-the-common-good-wrong/
- The Myth of the Establishment Democrat
Source: Washington Monthly
by David Masciotra“Establishment is used as a description and even a slur, but it’s really just misleading.” (08/27/26)
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2026/08/27/the-myth-of-the-establishment-democrat/
- The Externalities of Airports and Immigrants
Source: Bet On It
by Bryan Caplan“Are the externalities of airports positive or negative? If you base your answer on NIMBY complaining, the answer is obviously negative. Above all, there’s the noise. The deafening sounds of take-off and landing bedevil everyone who spends time near the airport. On top of that, there’s daily traffic. Not every airport is LAX (in fact, only LAX is LAX), but congestion is a common bonus burden on locals. Renters, to be fair, don’t really suffer on balance. They get compensated for the noise and traffic with lower rent. Local workers, too, receive extra pay to compensate them for their suffering. The main victims of the externalities, then, are property owners. Living right next to an airport typically depresses their property values by 5-15%, a major hit to their net worth.” (08/27/26)
- Bessent Suggests Economic Warfare Against Iran Could “Blow Up the Global Financial System”
Source: Antiwar.com
by Brett Wilkins“With the United States unable to militarily defeat Iran in President Donald Trump’s illegal US-Israeli war of choice, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday escalated the administration’s economic attacks on Tehran, warning countries and companies around the world that continuing to do business with the nation could expose them to punitive sanctions. … While Bessent did not say which countries would likely be targeted, China, Türkiye, and the United Arab Emirates are Iran’s biggest trading partners. The secretary was also asked why sanctions aren’t being imposed immediately. ‘Well, we are giving everyone the opportunity to remedy bad behavior,’ he replied. ‘Why would I want to blow up the global financial system?'” (08/27/26)
- Good Robot, Bad Robot
Source: Yascha Mounk
by Yascha Mounk“Humanity’s relationship with its mechanical helpers has always been a little bumpy. In a production of Lohengrin, the celebrated tenor Leo Slezak was supposed to climb onto a swan during his dramatic farewell. At one performance, the contraption departed without him. Slezak turned to the audience and asked: ‘When does the next swan leave?’ I was reminded of this anecdote from what very much feels like another era when I bought a coffee on the sidelines of the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing (also known as the robot Olympics). A metallic barista filled a cup with coffee, reached for a jug of hot milk, and made quick, delicate movements as it poured. The coffee was surprisingly good, and the robot had even decorated it with a remarkably detailed swan made out of milk. The performances of the robots inside the arena were more uneven.” (08/26/26)
https://writing.yaschamounk.com/p/a-dispatch-from-the-robot-olympics
- Libertarian Angle, 08/27/26
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“Jacob and Richard discuss FFF’s great new book, Liberty and the History of Economic Ideas, by Richard Ebeling.” (08/27/26)
- Nonzero, 08/27/26
Source: bloggingheads.tv
“The OpenAI Breakout and Other AI Spookiness | Robert Wright & Stephen Casper” (08/27/26)
- Serious Trouble, 08/27/26
Source: Serious Trouble
“If You Can’t Trust Michael Cohen, Who Can You Trust?” (08/27/26)
https://www.serioustrouble.show/p/if-you-cant-trust-michael-cohen-who
- Politics Politics Politics, 08/27/26
Source: Politics Politics Politics
“Trade War with Canada, Explained! (with Evan Scrimshaw).” (08/27/26)
https://www.politicspoliticspolitics.com/p/trade-war-with-canada-explained-with
- NPR Politics Podcast, 08/27/26
Source: National Public Radio [US state media]
“What’s going on with vote-by-mail?” (08/27/26)
https://www.npr.org/2026/08/27/nx-s1-5946378/whats-going-on-with-vote-by-mail
- Rising, 08/27/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on Meta paying nearly $17 billion to settle a lawsuit on social media addiction.” (08/27/26)
- TAC Right Now, 08/27/26
Source: The American Conservative
“Andrew Day, Luke Nicastro, and Spencer Neale discuss the Trump administration’s new economic strategy to force Iran’s capitulation. Then, they talk about recent elections and whether the Democrats will sweep the midterms.” (08/27/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/tac-right-now-why-economic-d-day-probably-wont-work/
- Ron Paul Liberty Report, 08/27/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“China Laughs At Bessent’s Oil Sanctions On Iran.” (08/27/26)
http://www.ronpaullibertyreport.com/archives/china-laughs-at-bessents-oil-sanctions-on-iran
- Show-Me Institute Podcast, 08/27/26
Source: Show-Me Institute
“Missouri’s School Personnel Boom with Avery Frank and Cory Koedel.” (08/27/26)
- Liberal Currents Live, 08/27/26
Source: Liberal Currents
“J. K. Rowling and the Problem of the Extremely Online Elites.” (08/27/26)
- Cato Podcast, 08/27/26
Source: Cato Institute
“How to Spot a Wrong Number.” (08/27/26)
https://www.cato.org/multimedia/cato-podcast/how-spot-wrong-number
- Capital Record, episode 318
Source: National Review
“David is joined by Stephanie Slade, author of the brand new book, Fusionism, and a prolific writer and public thinker around the fusion of liberty and virtue.” (08/27/26)
https://www.nationalreview.com/podcasts/capital-record/fusionism/
- The Moynihan Report, 08/27/26
Source: The Moynihan Report
“William Shatner Doesn’t Want to Die.” (08/27/26)
https://www.themoynihan.report/p/william-shatner-doesnt-want-to-die
- The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 08/27/26
Source: The New Republic
“Trump Unravels as Leaks Reveal How Aides Feed Him Crackpot Poll Hopium.” (08/27/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/214792/trump-unravels-leaks-reveal-aides-feed-crackpot-poll-hopium
- Larry Johnson on The Kyle Anzalone Show
Source: Libertarian Institute
‘We sit down with Larry Johnson of Sonar21 to pressure-test the story you’re being sold about the war with Iran, the Strait of Hormuz, and why ‘it’s only $4 a gallon’ can quickly turn into a very different reality when global oil supply, diesel, and aviation fuel get squeezed.” (08/27/26)
- The Blessings of Liberty with Jeffrey Rosen, 08/27/26
Source: The Blessings of Liberty with Jeffrey Rosen
“How has the Declaration of Independence Inspired Americans Over Time?” (08/27/26)
https://rosenjeffrey.substack.com/p/how-has-the-declaration-of-independence
- Advisory Opinions, 08/27/26
Source: The Dispatch
“How to Fix Congress | Interview: Rep. Jake Auchincloss.” (08/27/26)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/advisoryopinions/how-to-fix-congress-interview-rep-jake-auchincloss/
- Kibbe on Liberty, episode 401
Source: Free the People
“California Is Failing the Homeless | Guest: Mary Theroux.” (08/26/26)
- The Headlines, 08/27/26
Source: New York Times
“ICE Arrests Soar Across U.S., and Meta Agrees to Make Major Changes to Instagram and Facebook.” (08/27/26)
- The Tom Woods Show, episode 2790
Source: The Tom Woods Show
“The Old Food Pyramid Was Killing You.” (08/26/26)
https://tomwoods.com/ep-2790-the-old-food-pyramid-was-killing-you/